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Considering that American TV appears to be obsessed with nostalgic reboots, it was perhaps only a matter of time before producers began to look back even further than the 1980s for inspiration. Lost in Space was one of several TV series produced by the legendary Irwin Allen which, along with Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, and of course Star Trek (which was not produced by Allen), eventually came to be regarded as game-changers for science fiction television storytelling. Unlike anthology series like The Twilight Zone, Lost in Space was a sequential drama that followed the adventures of the Robinson family, who are chosen to lead an exploration to find a new planet for humans to colonize, but who become hopelessly lost in the depths of space when their mission is sabotaged by a sinister stowaway. Originally broadcast in 1965, it started out quite seriously, but gradually became sillier as it went on, concentrating much more on the antics of the stowaway Dr Zachary Smith, played by Jonathan Harris, and his relationship with the family’s youngest child Will Robinson, than the existential drama at the heart of the show. It was cancelled in 1968 after three seasons, and despite an initial attempt to re-boot it in 1998 as a movie starring William Hurt, Gary Oldman, and Matt LeBlanc, it has nevertheless remained something of a quaint relic of the 1960s – until now. Read more…

There hasn’t been a mainstream R-rated animated film in many years – at least since the South Park boys released Team America: World Police in 2004 – which, considering the success and popularity of shows like Archer and Bojack Horseman on television, seems to be something of an anomaly. Thankfully, that balance may be redressed with the success of Sausage Party, the brainchild of screenwriters Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jonah Hill, Kyle Hunter, and Ariel Shaffir, and directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon. The film follows the adventures of a sausage named Frank who lives in Shopwell’s supermarket. He is in love with Brenda, a hot dog bun, and together they dream of being taken to ‘the great beyond’ when they are bought by one of the supermarket’s patrons. Unfortunately, an unexpected incident leaves Frank and Brenda stranded on the wrong side of the supermarket, and they must team up with a Jewish bagel, a Muslim lavash, and a sexy taco named Teresa, in order to get home. Meanwhile, Frank’s friends Barry and Carl have been successfully taken to ‘the great beyond’, but quickly realize that all their preconceptions about supermarket heaven have been terribly, terribly wrong. Read more…

On January 12, 2010, the city of Port-au-Prince in Haiti was effectively flattened when it was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Within a matter of seconds over 50,000 people had been killed, and over a million people left homeless. Diseases such as cholera blighted the survivors and thwarted relief efforts, and since then the humanitarian crisis in the country has reached staggering proportions, with over 250,000 residences destroyed and basic services and infrastructure left in ruins. Reacting to the global call for help, film composer Christopher Lennertz was inspired to act. Calling upon his fellow composers and other members of the Los Angeles film music community of musicians and engineers, Lennertz teamed up with the charity Hands Together to create A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project, a musical fundraising project intended to help the people of Haiti. Read more…

Last Saturday, March 26th, I had the honor attending the recording sessions for “A Symphony of Hope: The Haiti Project” at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA. The brainchild of composer Christopher Lennertz, the Symphony is musical fundraising project designed to help the people of Haiti in their desperate time of need.

A year after the terrible earthquake which destroyed the lives of thousands of Haitians, it was clear to Lennertz that the need for assistance was greater than ever. In response Lennertz came up with the idea of the “Symphony of Hope”, and invited 25 leading film composers to collaborate with him on a project to benefit the Haiti Earthquake Relief fund. Read more…

A small scale romantic drama about a man suffering from Asberger’s Syndrome, Adam stars Hugh Dancy as the titular character, an introverted young man with awkward social graces, who develops a relationship with equally shy Beth (Rose Byrne), a young woman who lives in the same apartment building, who is recovering from her own damaged past relationship. Director Max Mayer’s film, which also stars Peter Gallagher and Amy Irving, takes a gentle look at the life of Asberger’s sufferers, proving that all relationships – no matter what the hurdles – can be overcome by love.

The score for Adam is by Christopher Lennertz, who has hitherto been better known for his large-scale action scores for video games and for his work on big-budget comedies such as Alvin and the Chipmunks and Meet the Spartans. Read more…

These ‘instant spoof’ movies – Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and the like – are becoming so tiresome. They wore out their welcome a long time ago, but nevertheless the studios keep churning them out, so someone, somewhere, must like them. Meet the Spartans is the latest such rehash, taking potshots at films such as 300, Spiderman III, Shrek and Ghost Rider – all of which were clearly rife for ridicule (not). Kevin Sorbo, Sean Maguire (a long way from Grange Hill) and Carmen Electra slum it in the cast; Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer direct.

The irony of all this is that Christopher Lennertz’s score is entirely serious – as Elmer Bernstein showed, the best way to score comedy is to not treat it like a comedy – and ends up actually being better than a lot of the scores for the movies this film lampoons Read more…

Ever since those adorable little critters, the Chipmunks, first burst onto airwaves and screens in the United States in the 1950s, they have been a mainstay of American popular culture. Over the years the anthropomorphic trio – Alvin, Simon and Theodore – and their human manager David Seville have enjoyed numerous hit records, featured in TV shows both animated and live action, and now feature in a new movie directed by Tim Hill, starring Jason Lee, and featuring the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney.

Alvin and the Chipmunks was one of the surprise box office hits of 2007, taking in over $200 million domestic. It’s also by far the biggest film to date of Christopher Lennertz’s career Read more…